John Kelley holds a Bachelor’s degree in music from Yale University, where he performed as a soloist with the Yale Glee Club, the Yale Bach Society, and a cappella singing groups Redhot & Blue and the Whiffenpoofs.

Richard Strauss originally considered writing an opera based on the legend of Till Eulenspiegel, the Medieval prankster who shrewdly and gleefully exposes the corruption and hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie and the church. “I have already put together a very pretty scenario,” the composer wrote in a letter in 1894, “but the figure of Master Till does not quite appear before my eyes.”…